(Robert W. Hamilton Book Award winner) The biblical scholar who wrote From Jesus to Christianity won his second Robert W. Hamilton Book Award for this book, in which he challenges us to read the gospels as they were originally intended—as performed stories of faith rather than factual histories. Michael White demonstrates that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each had a specific audience in mind and a specific theological agenda to advance, and consequently wrote and rewrote their lives of Jesus accordingly—in effect, scripting Jesus to get a particular point across and to achieve the desired audience reaction.

"Every readers who has ever puzzled over the oddities in the gospels, and over the odd new gospels that have been turning up in recent decades, will be grateful for Scripting Jesus. White's hands-on knowledge of archaeology, his broad knowledge of the literature and culture of the Greco-Roman world, and his mastery of scholarship in several different areas all combine to make this a rich and illuminating book."—Wayne A. Meeks